Clemson rolls past Wofford

But after a two-week layoff, what transpired at the Hoke Sloan Tennis Center Friday afternoon was about as good as the Clemson women's tennis team could have asked for.

The Tigers were nowhere near as sharp as they had been in their month-long run to the ACC Tournament title, but Clemson still overwhelmed Winthrop in the teams' NCAA Tournament first-round match.

Clemson won every set finished and rolled to a 4-0 win over the Eagles; the Tigers will face Michigan at 11 a.m. today with a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 on the line.

"I really felt like it was two weeks since we'd been competing," Clemson coach Nancy Harris said. "I felt like we were pretty much at every position rusty. "…We're glad to have this win today to get ready for tomorrow."

The Tigers hadn't competed since winning the ACC Tournament April 20, a two week break that included a week devoted to final examinations.

Winthrop entered as the Big South champions, but the Eagles were no match for Clemson, the tournament's No.13 overall seed. It showed right from the start.

The Tigers won all three doubles matches (although only the first two to finish counted), taking the point 8-4 and 8-2.

"That was definitely good for us," said No.1 singles player Ani Mijacika. "We have a great team in doubles and that was a good confidence builder."

The domination carried into singles play. All six Clemson players won the first sets of their matches, making the match a race to see who would finish first and earn the three points left to clinch the match (under NCAA rules, all remaining matches terminate after a team has the four points necessary to advance).

Ina Hadziselimovic finished first, beating Sara Abutovic 6-0, 6-2.

"I'm always the first one to finish," she said. "I guess it's just my game."

"I'm big on playing lots of points and getting experience," Harris said. "If it wasn't such a long journey (to the title) I would have liked to finish all of those games so we could get more experience."

Mijacika, the NCAA's No.2 singles player, struggled at times with Zaytseva, but said the overall result mattered most.

"(The rust) does show," she said. "It felt like two weeks without matches, but I'm glad we got the job done — that was really important.

"I was trying to give my best effort. It was hard in the beginning to get my mind on the game plan, but I was fine."

Now, the Tigers must focus on a much tougher foe in Michigan, the nation's No.19 team. The Wolverines ripped through Furman 4-0 in Friday's first match.

"Michigan has good depth and court position, and we're going to have to do a really good job with our depth and court position," Harris said. "We felt (today) like we could focus more on our opponent's weaknesses and maybe run them to their strengths as opposed to playing into their strengths."

Mental strength, Henry said, will be crucial today.

"We really need to lock in and focus," she said. "I didn't get to watch my teammates today because I was playing, but I think if we go out there and stay focused through the game, we'll be fine."